BOMBS IN MANCHESTER and MILLWALL'S BRICKS!

 11th March 1941 ( a day or two late)!!

The industrial complex that was Trafford Park in the 1930s was a prime target for German bombers in the Second World War but on March 11th 1941 some of those bombs were a little off target hitting the Old Trafford home of Manchester United. The destruction was such that United were unable to play any more football at Old Trafford during the war years.

 In 1945 the War Damage Commission gave the club £4,800 to clear the debris and another £17,478 to rebuild the stands. Times have changed! Even then United didn't play a home match in the Football League there until 1949 having to share Manchester City's Maine Road home ground. Manchester United finally played that first home League match in their own rebuilt stadium against Bolton Wanderers on 24th August 1949 - the previous Football League match at Old Trafford was against Grimsby Town on August 26th 1939. Even then United didn't play their first home match under floodlights until March 25th 1957, a League match again against Bolton, meaning that the Maine Road ground had to be borrowed again for their home floodlit European Cup matches earlier in the 1956/57 season.

Trafford Park largely produced war material during the Second World War, such as the Avro Manchester and Avro Lancaster Bombers and Avro Royal-Royce Merlin engines used to power the Spitfire, Hurricane, Mosquito and the Lancaster. The engines were made by Ford under licence. The 17,316 workers employed in Ford's purpose-built factory produced 34,000 engines during the war. The facility was designed in two separate sections to minimise the impact of bomb damage on production. The wood-working factory of F. Hills & Sons built more than 800 Percival Procter aircraft for the RAF between 1940 and 1945, which were flight-tested at the Barton Aerodrome. Other companies produced gun bearings, steel tracks for Churchill Tanks, munitions, Bailey Bridges, and much else. ICI built and operated the first facility in the UK able to produce penicillin in quantity (ideal at war).

Trafford Park was frequently bombed by the Luftwaffe, particularly during the Manchester Blitz of December 1940. On the night of 23 December 1940, the Metropolitan-Vickers aircraft factory in Mosley Road was badly damaged, with the loss of the first 13 MV-built Avro Manchester bombers in their final assembly. The new Ford factory producing aircraft engines was bombed a few days after its opening in May 1941. Trafford Hall was severely damaged by bombing, and was demolished shortly after the war.

In the December 1940 air raids, stray bombs aimed for Trafford Park landed on the nearby Old Trafford football stadium, home of Manchester United, resulting in minor damage; matches were soon being played at the stadium again. On 11 March 1941, stray bombs fell onto Old Trafford again, causing serious damage to the stadium. It was comprehensively rebuilt after the war and re-opened in 1949, until which time Manchester United played their home games at Maine Road, home (of course) of Manchester City in Moss Side.

At the outbreak of war in 1939 there were an estimated 50,000 people employed at Trafford Park. By the end of the war in 1945 that number had risen to 75,000, probably the peak size of the park's workforce; Metropolitan-Vickers alone employed 26,000. In the 1960s employment in the park began to decline as companies closed their premises in favour of newer, more efficient plants elsewhere. Ellesmere Port and Runcorn at the western end of the Manchester Ship Canal overtook Trafford Park in economic importance.

On March 13th 1978, Bobby Robson with his Ipswich Town side visited The Den and their coach was greeted by an avalanche of bricks and stones and midway through the first half Millwall, a goal down, saw fightong in the corner of the ground. This spilled out on to the pitch with the match being suspended for 18 minutes as bottles and various armaments were wielded by the mob. Forty five people were injured and 30 arrested as Ipswich won 1-6. Bobby Robson, one of the most impressive managers in the game was not placated by that. "Turn the flame throwers on them" he said (after the game) in the "heat of the moment".

Supporter behaviour at the club's next tie in the Quarter-final of the Cup, away at Luton Town, was not good either. The riot became a defining image of 1980s hooliganism. A large contingent of away supporters turned up at Kenilworth Road with the "Cream of London's Firms" looking for a fight. Over 3,000 ticketless away fans turned up invading the pitch at the start and seeing thrie club lose 1-0, they ripped out seats and threw them at the retreating police. One officer was hit on the head by a concrete block abd only a colleague's "kiss" of life saved him. 81 people were injured, 31 of them police officers. Thirty one people were arrested and charged though a majority turned out to be supporters of other clubs. In the wake of this, The FA  ordered the Luton club to erect crash barriers in front of their stands, which the club refused, opting to ban away supporters however they were expelled from the 1986/7 League Cup tournament.

BLUEBIRDS AND PENSIONERS

 

10th March 1971
Cardiff City recorded one of their greatest victories when a Brian Clark headed goal saw the Bluebirds beat Real Madrid 1-0 before a near-50,000 crowd at Ninian Park in the ECWC quarter-final 1st leg. Sadly Cardiff lost the return leg 2-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu and Real went on to reach the final where they lost to Chelsea.

And talking of Chelsea!!.... in 1904, English businessman Gus Mears acquired the Stamford Bridge Athletics Stadium in Fulham with the aim of turning it into a football ground. An offer to lease it to nearby Fulham FC was turned down, so Mears opted to found his own club to use the stadium. As there was already a team named Fulham in the borough, the name of the adjacent borough of Chelsea was chosen for the new club; names like Kensington FC, Stamford Bridge FC and London FC were considered. Chelsea F.C. was founded on 10 March 1905 at The Rising Sun pub (now The Butcher's Hook), opposite the present-day main entrance to the ground on Fulham Road, and were elected to the Football League shortly afterwards. Chelsea won promotion to the First Division in their second season, and yo-yoed between the First and Second Divisions in its early years. The team reached the 1915 FA Cup Final, where they lost to Sheffield United at Old Trafford, and finished third in the First Division in 1920, the club's best "League" campaign to that point.

33 KILLED AT BURDEN PARK-WERE LESSONS LEARNED?

A bumper crowd gathered at Burnden Park on this day (March 9th) in 1946, with the chance of watching, home club,  Bolton Wanderers play Stoke City in the Sixth Round of the FA Cup. Wanderers were already 2-0 up, in a season when the FA Cup was in its Sixth Round, the only season when the Cup was played over two legs!! Stoke City, at this time, meant that the very famous Stanley Matthews was playing and over 50,000 spectators were expected, but at least 85,000 turned up! The "Bolton Evening News" noted that the game was "irresistible to football lovers of the North. There were all the signs of great Cup tie enthusiasm and a spirit of great humour. When the teams emerged from the "tunnel",surges in the overcrowded Embankment Stand caused thousands of spectators to lose their feet and fall onto the crush barriers which collapsed under the weight. Chaos as many were suffocated and others just crushed. Thirty-three spectators were crushed to death and over 500 injured. Despite this, the match was played after a short interval, fearing that a cancellation would cause further chaos.

The investigation revealed that a father trying to escape the crush with a little boy, broke open the gate and the desperate crowd poured in unaware of what was going on inside. Within minutes, the "glorious day" quickly became the biggest football tragedy. Some fans that had jumped barriers to get into the stadium were blamed but the government enquiry chaired by R. Moelwyn James KG, concluded that the "unauthorised entry was a factor but not the only one." 

It was believed that 2,000 people over the "safe" capacity had gained entry into the "Embankment Stand" and Hughes opined that "if a lower number of people had been allowed into the stand" then the disaster would not have happpened. It was noted that several stands and turnstiles were not open, creating bottle necks and numbers entering the stadium were not recorded. Hughes announced that numbers entering stadia, especially for big occasions, should be monitored mechanically. His recommendations, however, were not backed up by legislation, as clubs had "the option" to ignore them! The culture of complacency continued for four decades afterwards, a culture betrayed by events at the FA Cup Semi-Final in Hillsborough, Sheffield in 1989!!

MARCH 2nd FOOTBALL LEAGUE COMES INTO BEING

 On March 2nd 1888, William McGregor, a Scot and Director of Aston Villa FC, wrote to the Chairmen of Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Preston North End and West Bromwich Albion with a "bright idea"; "Every Year it is becoming more and more difficult for football clubs of any standing to meet their friendly engagements and even arrange friendly matches...I beg to tender the following suggestion as a means of getting over the difficulty. It is that ten or twelve of the most prominent clubs in England combine to arrange home and away fixtures each season. This combinatiion might be known as the "Association Football Union". My object in writing to you at present is merely to draw your attention to the subject and to suggest a friendly conference to discuss such the matter more fully...how would Friday March 23rd 1888 suit for a friendly conference at the Anderton's Hotel, London?

The meeting went ahead with representatives from Accrington, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Stoke FC and Wolverhampton Wanderers also in attendance. It was decided to call the new venture, The Football League-NOT the English Football League, as it was hoped that at the time Scottish Clubs would also join or be encouraged to form their own "League". At a second meeting on April 17th, the League was formally founded and within 5 months, it was up and running, with 12 clubs. 

McGregor's Aston Villa racked up FIVE League titles by the turn of the century.

The First Football League (1888-9) was won by Preston North End (P22, W18, D4, L0, F74 A15 Pts 40.) Remember the FA Cup was already in competition, since 1872.

FROM CAFE GIESLA TO SKY SPORTS

Today, it is "back to the turn of the century, Bavaria" where the German powerhouse, FC Bayern Munich was formed in 1900 at Café Gisela in Munich, by 11 members of the football division of MTV 1879 Munich, led by Berlin native Franz John. They broke away due to disagreements with the club's gymnastics-focused management regarding joining the German Football Association (DFB).

Believe it or not, Germany's most successful football club started life as a Gymnastics Club and they have come a long way since the days of somersaults and dives (no we are not talking about Jurgen Klinsmann's spell at the club) as they boast having a trophy cabinet that contains more than twenty domestic titles and every other trophy available in and out of Germany. 

Ninety-nine years later, actually on Feb 27th, 1999,  AND......

 v                                               is the first competitive pay-per-view (PPV) football match to be broadcast on Sky Television. However, there was the birth of a less welcome part of football, as Sky Sports showed their first ever pay-per-view game. For only £7.95, every kick, throw-in and dodgy corner of Oxford United's First Division match with Sunderland was yours. Unfortunately there were no goals for all those punters who "splashed the cash" as the two sides played out a 0-0 draw!! 

DONNARUMMA and A CARLING CUP FINAL

Italy footballer Gianluigi Donnarumma was born On Feb 25th. He made his debut for his national team in 2016 and eventually earned 77 caps.

On February 25th, in 2001, Liverpool looked to be climbing out of their mid-90s "slump" when the club picked up the first piece of silverware for six years by winning the League Cup. Liverpool beat Birmingham City, who took Liverpool to penalties and became the first English Cup Final to be settled by penalties.

In 2007, the Football League Cup final, was played between London rivals, Chelsea and Arsenal in a lively affair at the Millenium Stadium, the final fixture played there before such important Football events returned to WembleyStadium, following its refurbishment. Chelsea were making their fifth League Cup Final appearance to Arsenal's sixth!

Didier Drogba, Man of the Match, scored two goals for the Blues, following Arsenal's lead enabled by Theo Walcott's first goal for Arsenal, in an incident-packed match which involved a lengthy stoppage in play as John Terry was knocked unconscious by a boot from Abou Diaby. An injury time "brawl" saw Emmanuel Adebayor sent off, by Howard Webb, in a bad tempered clash that was reaching it's "climax". Here's a programme!!

CHELSEA'S ROUTE TO THE 2007 FINAL

Round	Opposition	Score
3rd	Blackburn Rovers (a)	2–0
4th	Aston Villa (h)	4–0
5th	Newcastle United (a)	1–0
Semi-final	Wycombe Wanderers (a)	1–1
	Wycombe Wanderers (h)	4–0
Key: (h) = Home venue; (a) = Away venue.

AND ARSENAL's

Round	Opposition	Score
3rd	West Bromwich Albion (a)	2–0
4th	Everton (a)	1–0
5th	Liverpool (a)	6–3
Semi-final	Tottenham Hotspur (a)	2–2
	Tottenham Hotspur (h)	3–1
Key: (h) = Home venue; (a) = Away venue.

PARk JI-SUNG

Park Ji-Sung is a South Korea footballer, who was born February 25th, 1981 in Goheung, South Korea. Son is 45 years old. His mother, Myung-ja, worked in a Korean metals' factory. Son married Kim Min-Ji in 2014. The couple has one daughter, Yeon-woo. 

Park was a busy, reliable and tactical midfielder, playing famously for Manchester United, from 2005 to 2012 before transferring to Queens Park Rangers and later becoming one of the most decorated Asian soccer players ever. He joined the South Korean national team in 2001 and was named captain of the team in 2010. 

Before his fame, he began playing soccer in elementary school and was recognized as one of the brightest young stars in South Korean athletics. He became widely renowned for his defensive play and was named KFA Footballer of the Year in 2010. He joined the Queens Park Rangers under manager Harry Redknapp. Age 45 years old.